I have been away from the blog for a while because of my own work, and then I was at the amazing Between the Worlds conference this past weekend. I’ll write more about that soon. But for now, let me share some of the smart responses to the most recent tragedy.

With those things in mind, we also need to think very, very carefully about how we’re discussing issues of ability, mental health, and identity in this situation in general. Note, again, that when a white man – and it’s nearly always a white man – shoots people, he’s an individual with individual reasons and problems, rather than a representative of his entire ethnic group. And with whatever mental health issues he may have had, demonizing that group, instead of an ethnic group, is not necessarily going to solve this problem either.

Hecate raises important questions on raising male children in gun culture that I think extend beyond male children. I know that I’m going to think differently about how I engage with and respond to some of the violent parts of our culture after this, and I’m going to stop being ashamed of saying, “I won’t watch that, it’s too violent.”

My own thoughts:

There are two common responses from gun advocates that I want to respond to in brief. The first is that since they think the best solution is for them to be armed to the teeth, they’re blaming everyone who is not armed to the teeth, or who thinks it’s appropriate to have spaces like schools, state parks, bars, university campuses, and other areas be off-limits to concealed carry of firearms for not “protecting themselves.”

There are many responses to make to this idealization of maximal guns, but for now I just want to point out two: first, in Mother Jones’ excellent historical research, there were no cases of an armed civilian bringing a rampage to an end. There were two smaller cases, not included in their study, where armed civilians tried to intervene and were themselves shot. More recently, at Tucson, an armed bystander did try to intervene and almost shot an innocent. Evidence shows that armed bystanders are not a panacea.

Second, I am going to keep hammering on the issue of large magazines until something gets done about this. Even if you think that more guns is the answer, you should be in favor of banning large-capacity magazines. Sure, a shooter can carry five ten-round clips, but the very act of reloading slows him (and it’s almost always a him) down. That gives whoever is responding a chance to get there before more people are killed. And if you think that you, in your heroic fantasy, are going to need more than a handful of rounds to stop a shooter, then you’re a lousy marksman and shouldn’t be shooting in an area with lots of innocents around anyway.

There’s another response that I find more disgusting and appalling the more I hear it. Earlier this year I suggested that as Pagans we should be especially concerned about soaking our culture in what are essentially toxic weapons. It turns out that another Pagan responded with a long statement about gun culture, rights, and so on, ending on a nearly triumphalist note about being able to protect her own liberty should the government ever decide to persecute her as a Pagan.

Wake the fuck up, people.

I never want to hear that bullshit again. It makes me want to vomit.

I’m old enough to remember Waco. I’m contemporary enough to see people reveling in our military might when applied to other countries. Get real: the government has everything from tear gas and SWAT teams to tanks, aircraft, bombs, hell, they have nukes. No matter what that bastard Scalia says about how he thinks you should be able to own your very own personal rocket launcher (MANPADS is how the cool military kids describe them!), you will never be able to overthrow the government via armed insurrection. That time has passed; technology has changed.

If you were very determined, you could start a civil war. Maybe. You, for any value of “you” smaller than at least a third of the country in a geographically contiguous and politically united coalition, are not defending yourselves against tyranny. You are not preparing for anything, except possibly suicide-by-cop (as happened in Topeka on Sunday night). You are making the world more violent and dangerous for the rest of us by indulging your disgusting and ignorant fantasies. You are not the solution; you are the problem.

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About Literata

Literata is a Wiccan priestess and writer. She edited Crossing the River: An Anthology in Honor of Sacred Journeys, and her poetry, rituals, and nonfiction have appeared in works such as Mandragora, Unto Herself, and Anointed as well as multiple periodicals. Literata has presented rituals and workshops at Sacred Space conference, Fertile Ground Gathering, and other mid-Atlantic venues. Literata offers healing and divination services as well as customized life-cycle rituals. She is currently completing her doctoral dissertation in history with the support of her husband and four cats.

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